DEFINITION OF PLANNING OPTIONS
Acceleration: Students’ needs are usually met and accommodated by teacher providing faster pacing and more advanced content
Curriculum Compacting: The teachers assesses what a student knows about the material to be studied and what still needs to be learned (i.e. pretesting). If the student already knows the material, the teacher decides what extensions or alternatives will be provided for student in place of the existing lesson(s).
Differentiation: Assignments are changed to meet a variety of student needs. The content, process and skills, and/or final product (essay, speech, visual display) may be modified to stimulate advanced, more sophisticated outcomes and should require the student to use higher level thinking skills.
Higher Level Thinking: Students use of higher level thinking skills such as analysis, interpretation, evaluation and creativity. For example, instead of asking the student to recite the author’s name, the teacher asks the student to give an opinion as to why the author wrote the book.
Learning Style Emphasis: If the student shows a dominant style of learning, provide opportunities for the student to learn and demonstrate his/her knowledge in that style. For example, if the student likes to draw or build, the teacher tailors activities so that the student can learn and apply learning through visual and hands-on projects.
Mentorship: Students are paired with an expert in the field of common interest with the student being guided in a project or research.
Most Difficult First: The teachers begins by determining which items represent the most difficult examples of the entire assignment. The teacher then tells class that each student has the option of trying the five most difficult problems (or what number of problems is decided to be appropriate for the particular lesson) that the teacher has selected from the assignment. If any student completes the five problems with 80 percent accuracy (or the percentage that the teacher deems appropriate) during the class period, then they do not have to complete the rest of the assignment. The students are instructed to use their “free time” doing an activity from a list of alternative acitivities the teacher has prepared. For example, a student may work on computer math games. NOTE: The list of alternative activities should include some activities that students have suggested.
Open-ended Assignment: The assigned tasks allow for multiple possible solutions with the intent that the process is over time and requires complex application of skills.
– adapted from “Teaching Gifted Kids in the Regular Classroom,” by Susan Winebrenner and “PPS 2000-2001 Talented and Gifted Education Guide”
